Techmeme: Cybercriminals use Google Cloud Messaging to control malware on Android devices (Lucian Constantin/PC World)

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August 15, 2013, 5:05 AM

Top News

Chris Morris / GamesIndustry International:

Former Steam boss Jason Holtman lands at Microsoft — Valve veteran will be focused on “making Windows a great platform for gaming” — Jason Holtman, who spearheaded Valve's Steam business for eight years before leaving the company in February, has a new job.

More: The Verge, TechCrunch, Engadget, tbreak, Softpedia News, Digital Trends, VG247, Joystiq, Pocket-lint, PC World, Kotaku, GamePolitics blogs, Computer And Video Games All, MCV: Home Stream, Gamasutra, destructoid and Polygon. Tweets: @gibiz

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

Lenovo posts Q1 earnings, reveals that its mobile sales have overtaken PCs — Don't look now, but Lenovo just became an industry bellwether. While reporting strong first quarter results that include a record $8.8 billion in revenue and $170 million in profit, the tech giant revealed …

More: TechCrunch, The Verge, The Next Web, Android Beat, ABC News, Bloomberg, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Electronista, BBC and SlashGear

Juro Osawa / Digits:

Q&A: Lenovo CEO on Smartphones and BlackBerry — China's Lenovo Group Ltd. is outperforming its peers in the struggling personal-computer industry. The world's largest PC vendor said Thursday that it posted a 23% rise in net profit and a 9.7% rise in revenue in its fiscal first quarter through June, beating analysts' expectations.

More: The Next Web and memeburn. Tweets: @juroosawa

Scott Buscemi / 9to5Mac:

iCloud.com beta updated with iOS 7 design — The beta.icloud.com website has been redesigned to match the design of iOS 7. Removing the linen and other Forstall-era design elements, this is the first display of Apple bringing iOS 7 design elements to the web.

More: iLounge, Softpedia News, Ars Technica, PC Advisor, Macgasm, App Advice, iPhone in Canada Blog, everythingiCafe, iPhone Hacks, AppleTell, CNET, Pocket-lint, Apple Fan Site, The Verge, MacRumors, Gizmodo, TechnoBuffalo, The Mac Observer, MacNN, iClarified and ParisLemon. Tweets: @llsethj

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Yes, Gmail users have an expectation of privacy — Sending email to Gmail users means you expect Google's servers will process it — Consumer groups are up in arms today over a motion Google made in June to dismiss a class-action lawsuit alleging that Gmail violates federal …

More: Consumer Watchdog, Guardian, TIME, ReadWrite, ZDNet, GigaOM, PC Magazine, CNET, Businessweek, Mashable, Techdirt, The Next Web, NEWS.com.au, CBS San Francisco, TUAW, PhoneArena, Naked Security, The Register, Salon, InvestorPlace, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, DSLreports, PC World, socalTECH.com, Gizmodo, The Huffington Post, Inquirer, Business Insider, RT and SlashGear

Tweets: @colvinius, @mattwarman, @notpatrick, @reckless, @cschweitz, @benadida, @caseynewton, @jamesgecko, @claytonmorris and @cwarzel

Thanks:@mattlynley

Alex Colon / GigaOM:

Samsung announces the Hennessy, a dual-screen, quad-core Android flip phone — When you think of smartphones, the image of a sleek, minimalist slab is probably what comes to mind. But how about a flip phone? Now there's a form factor you don't see everyday - at least, not on any phone that's powered by Google.

More: Pocket-lint, The Next Web, PC World, IntoMobile, CNET, Engadget, BGR, SlashGear, InvestorPlace, Electronista, Android Police, ZDNet, www.idigitaltimes.co.uk, pocketnow.com, Android Beat and Android Community

Tweets: @inafried and @treestman

Derrick Harris / GigaOM:

Facebook's trillion-edge, Hadoop-based and open source graph-processing engine — People following the open source Giraph project likely know that Facebook was experimenting with it, and on Wednesday the company detailed just how heavily it's leaning on Giraph.

More: Facebook, ZDNet, The Register and PC World

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

The Creepy Ad Firm That's Charging Top Brands For YouTube Ads That Aren't Supposed To Exist — YouTube viewers with a penchant for downloading what they watch have been unwittingly participating in a sketchy advertising cycle that shows them ads in places YouTube and Google never meant for an ad to exist.

More: spider.io, BBC, SlashGear, Business Insider, ExchangeWire.com, Financial Times, Marketing Land, ReelSEO Video Marketing, Softpedia News, Gizmodo, Wired.co.uk and AdExchanger

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

eBay launches “My Gadgets”, an easy way to catalog, value and one day sell your gadgets — Today, online auction marketplace eBay launched a new product called “My Gadgets” that it says will let users catalog the tech devices they have and appraise them should they wish to sell any later.

More: Engadget, Gearburn and Gizmodo

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

Meet The Dread Pirate Roberts, The Man Behind Booming Black Market Drug Website Silk Road — An entrepreneur as professionally careful as the Dread Pirate Roberts doesn't trust instant messaging services. Forget phones or Skype. At one point during our eight-month preinterview courtship …

More: Guardian, GigaOM, The Verge and The Register

Tweets: @4thanon, @kashhill, @jeffreyatucker and @ravenben

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

How A ‘Deviant’ Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut — Since rumors began to spread that a startup called Palantir helped to kill Osama bin Laden, Alex Karp hasn't had much time to himself. — On one sun-baked July morning in Silicon Valley Palantir's lean 45 …

More: The Verge and Valleywag. Tweets: @annegalloway and @nicoleperlroth. Thanks:@thealexknapp

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Ad-Free Social Platform App.net Raises Another $2.5M From Andreessen Horowitz — App.net, the social platform created in response to the ad-driven consumer social networks (specifically Twitter), just announced that it has raised $2.5 million in new funding.

More: App.net and The Next Web. Tweets: @itod

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

BlackBerry Patent Portfolio Worth $2 Billion to $3 Billion — BlackBerry's continuing decline has left it with comparatively little to offer a potential acquirer. There's a crumbling smartphone business, a too-late-to-market operating system that has failed to capture the imagination …

More: BGR. Tweets: @johnpaczkowski

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

They don't make Windows like they used to — Summary: Microsoft is making the Windows sausage differently these days. And that impacts everything from how products are tested, to how they're launched and updated. — Microsoft announced on August 14 that it will be launching Windows 8.1 on October 18, 2013.

More: WinBeta, LiveSide.net, The Register, InfoWorld, Ars Technica, The Official Microsoft Blog, TechNet Blogs and WindowsObserver.com

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Windows 8.1 will launch on October 18th, available a day earlier on Windows Store

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Search Gets More Personal, Now Lets You Find Your Flight Info, Reservations, Photos And More — Google today announced a number of search features that make it easier for you to find your own personal information through Google Search. The search engine can now find information …

More: Search Engine Land, googleblog.blogspot.ie, ReadWrite, memeburn, AndroidSPIN, iDownloadBlog.com, ABC News, VatorNews, Digital Trends, Mercury News, The Technology Chronicles, AllThingsD, The Verge, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Engadget and The Next Web. Thanks:@alex

Dara Kerr / CNET:

Microsoft's ‘touch screen’ for any surface goes on sale — Prototype technology that turns any surface — a wall, table, or floor — into an interactive touch screen has been years in the making. Now, anyone can get their hands on the software. — Screengrab from Ubi's video …

More: The Verge, Engadget and MSDN Blogs

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon's Silk Web Browser Gets A Whole New Look — Amazon's Silk web browser, which comes built into Kindle Fire devices, has received its first major upgrade since September 2012, the company announced today. Though there have been steady under-the-hood improvements over time …

More: Amazon Silk, Engadget, ZDNet, Android Community and The Verge

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